Blonde in the Windy City

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

camera

This past weekend was a blast! As I mentioned in the last post I went to Brian's work Christmas party, which was such a fun time. On Saturday we were invited to two ugly Christmas sweater parties. The first one we went to was out in the 'burbs. It was at one of Brian's co-residents house. The 2nd one was at another co-residents house, but it was in river west. The 2nd party had games and a station where you could decorate your own ginger bread men. Adorable!

If you know us for some reason we wait till the last minute to find clothing for themed parties. Well needless to say we didn't find any ugly Christmas sweaters the day of. I just wore my Santa hat and Brian was able to borrow one at the party. I know, bah humbug to us!

On Sunday we went to the gym together. If you don't follow football there was a Packers vs. Bears game on and the guy on the machine next to me kept flipping out when the bears were screwing up. I seriously thought he was going to flip a treadmill over or something. Anyway, afterwards we went downtown to see the Christmas tree by the Hancock building. Brian was a little disappointed it wasn't bigger {I think he wanted to go see the tree in Daley Plaza, which we're going to do next weekend}. It was so cold out so we went up stairs to the signature room on the 96th floor to grab a drink. Afterwards we did a little shopping at H&M. Brian got me this awesome necklace, bracelet, and ring (I'm a lucky girl)! Then went to Uno's and got a deep dish pizza. It was a perfect weekend, except for one thing...

I took a lot of pictures this weekend, but unfortunately when Brian and I were out on Sunday I managed to lose my camera, with all my holiday party photos on it... I know... I'm beyond devastated! What happened was I took my camera out to take a picture of our drinks and for some reason I didn't put it back in my purse, but rather I set it on top of my purse. When the bill came Brian was going to pay but I got all excited and said no my treat! I think I pulled my purse out too quick and it must have fell on the floor. Well when I finally realized it was gone I started to freak. We were already on the train ride home, so Brian called the signature room once we got in the door. They didn't answer so I made Brian drive back to the Hancock so I could go back up and check for myself. Sad to say I didn't find it... I'm still devastated that I lost it. I just can't believe someone would steal someones camera! So, sorry if I'm lacking on the photo posts in the coming weeks. I'll most likely post instagram photos.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Christmas Party

Last nights Christmas party was so much fun! As I've said before those doctors know how to party. The hostess is an attending and let me tell you her house is AHHHHmazing! It was huge and very spacious. She and her husband built it from a warehouse. So creative. I also found it very refreshing that she was so nice too.

The party was catered and they had a bartender making these drinks they called "conscious sedation" (funny right?!). You couldn't even tell there was any alcohol in them. I guess the hostess spent weeks trying to prefect the recipe.

Unfortunately I forgot my camera :( I was so bummed when I realized it. I only have one picture from last night.

Oh by the way, I purchased a new curling iron and I'm in love! It's ceramic so it won't damage my hair. I love the way the curls turn out.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

blue cheese

Hello all. Today has been a pleasant day. I spent most of it at work (my hours S.U.C.K 9-5:30) wah it makes me want to cry just thinking about it, but most of the kids are pretty wonderful so it makes the hours go by a little faster.

After work to relieve some stress I went to spin class. I'm a little obsessed if you don't already know. This is the first time I had this particular instructor and let me just say it was awesome! She was playing great music (not techno) and I seriously was sweating buckets. Love it. Afterwards Brian took me out to this restaurant called Hackney's. They have really great burgers. I got the blue cheese burger. I love my burgers with blue cheese, I think it makes the burger that much more savory.

Tomorrow is Brian's Christmas party. Let me tell you, those doc's know how to party. I'll take plenty of pics.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

randomness via instagram

I got off work early today. I always love little surprises like that!

I went shopping and got some goodies including lotion from Bath and Body Works.
I love going into Bath and Body Works. It always smells so yummy in there! This time of year they have vanilla bean noel in stores and it's my favorite! I wish they carried it all year round.

Brian came home a little early today too so we just hung out and talked. I love talking to him, we are always being silly and making each other laugh. We started watching Sons of Anarchy again, it's pretty good but it's no Game of Thrones. I can't wait till that show comes back on.

Here is some randomness via instagram:

watching the badgers play

love moon man

winter wonderland in three lakes

randomness

tangerine margarita that Brian made

before awolnation

sippin'

Phineus happy to be back from the hospital

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

winter skin care routine

When winter rolls around my skin gets out of whack. It gets so dry and tight it hurts. Normally I stay away from putting heavy creams and/or oils on my face because I have oily/combination, acne prone, AND sensitive skin. Triple whammy, I know. However, I need to do something about my dry skin.

Through trial and error I realized that creams/oils don't actually make my skin oily or breakout, in fact it does the opposite, it helps my skin stay acne-free and smooth. I think in the past I'd use too many harsh ingredients without enough moisture, which would make my skin break out. Moisture is key, even for people who have oily skin.

Here is my current skin care routine:

In the morning:

I wash my face with deep clean facial cleanser.

It fights acne, but I found it to be less harsh than some of the other face washes out there. I used this face wash in high school and recently came back to it after remembering I had great skin in high school. I moisturize with olay total effects anti-aging moisturizer.

It's suppose to fight fine lines and wrinkles as well as fade dark spots. I started using this about 3 weeks ago and have already noticed my sun spots fading!

At night:

To clean off my makeup I wash my face with neutrogena deep clean again as well as neutrogena fresh foaming cleanser.

This helps remove my makeup. I take off what makeup is left on my eyes with vaseline cocoa butter jelly.

The cocoa butter helps condition the delicate skin around your eyes. Make sure when you remove the makeup around your eyes you don't tug. You don't want to create wrinkles you didn't have before. Sometimes, if my skin is feeling really dry, I use cocoa butter vaseline on my whole face. I just spread some on and wipe the excess away with a tissue.

For my regular moisturizer I use loreal age perfect. It's a very rich moisturizer with a buttery feel. I wasn't sure if I'd like it or not, but I LOVE it! It has a luxurious feel to it.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Gossip Girls

I really can't stand when people are gossipy! This came with age because in high school I use to be like that until one day a girl I was friends with overheard me talking about her. It wasn't that I didn't like her but the "cool" girls were talking about her so I was just trying to fit in I guess. Well anyway from that moment on I swore I wouldn't say anything bad about anyone to another person because you never know what will get back to people.

After I started work in a predominately female profession it was hard because what do women do best but talk about each other. It's seriously messed up and toxic how gossipy people can be and I hate surrounding myself with that, but it's hard because I need a job and the field that I'm in is mostly women so it's hard to avoid it.

So I made up some steps on how to help minimize the gossip that is said is said around me (because I know I can't eliminate it).

Number 1: Don't go looking for gossip. I hate when people are like "OMG! What did she just say?!" or "Tell me all the dirty gossip about her!" Nope sorry not gonna happen!

Number 2: Just avoid it. Period. Avoid it like the plague! Don't listen to other peoples gossip. Most of the time it's just not true so don't believe it unless it's straight from the person who's being gossiped about.

Number 3: Expect that people will gossip about you. Yep, people love to gossip about everyone, including you. It doesn't mean you have to respond to it. That's just what they want.

Number 4: You have to recognized that if people do gossip about you it's mostly likely because they are unhappy with themselves and jealous of you. Bringing people down is fun to them. Well I feel sorry people who feel the need to act this way. I guess your best comeback in this situation would be just to kill them with kindness...

Speaking of gossip- I'm really loving Gossip Girl right now! It's finally on netfilix so I'm able to watch it ALL the time! It's one of my new faves :)